Dec 6, 2016

The Effects Of Colonialism On The African Identity

Colonialism and its effects have been a predominant theme in
African literature. African dramatists, novelists and even poets have often
times showcased these ideas through their writings in order to reveal the evils
of colonialism on the African identity. For example, Kaine, in his novel,
Ambiguous Adventure, brings to light what effect colonialism has on the African
identity. His protagonist, Samba Diallo is exposed to the western culture
through education. In other words, he is colonized by the Europeans through
education and this exposition brings him between two opposing cultures. Sambo
Diallo tries to fuse these cultures and consequently lost his identity.

It is clear and glaring that when most Africans come in contact with
this European culture, they tend to forget or let go their cultural heritage
for the European culture and this most times affect their psyche. The persona
in Gabriel Okara’s “Piano and Drum” is left in dilemma as a result of the
seductive power of the western culture which is represented by the piano. He is
to make a choice between his African heritage and the western culture but such
difficult choice remains unresolved till the end of the poem (lines 23-29).
Unfortunately, this has been the pitiable experience of many Africans who as
result of the innovations of the western culture, cast into the abyss, their
African heritage.

Modern African Poets have also inculcated this idea in their poems
and this article critically examines such idea using Gabriel Okara’s “The
Fisherman’s Invocation” and J.P Clark’s “Ivbie” as its reference poems.

Both Okara’s “The Fisherman’s Invocation” and J.P Clark’s “Ivbie”
portray the effect of colonialism on the African identity. In other words, they
dramatize the psychic trauma of the African emerging from colonial rule. Based
on this fact, they can be termed psychodrama.

Psychodrama is an action method often used as a psychotherapy, in
which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing and self-presentation
to investigate and gain insight into their lives. A psychodrama is best
conducted and produced by a person trained in the method called a psychodrama
director. Psycho treatment is the talking cure; you don’t cure by giving
injection or medicine. Also, a psychodrama has a psychoanalyst and a patient.
The patient suffers from the psychic trauma whereas the psychoanalyst gives him
the talking cure.

Gabriel Okara, through the fishing expedition in his poem, “The
Fisherman’s Invocation”, dramatizes the psychic trauma of the unskilled
fisherman (the new African) who has emerged from colonialism. There are two
fishermen in the canoe: the unskilled/inexperienced/patient/new fisherman who
is culturally sick and the skilled/experienced/psychoanalyst/old African who is
still rooted in his culture. The African emerging from colonial domination has
as a result of his peculiar colonial indoctrination, abandoned his ancient
tribal tradition and old beliefs for foreign ways. This results in a loss of
identity. He suffers from alienation; he has lost his skills.

On the other hand, the old fisherman represents the old African
who teaches the new African about the ways of his people which he has forsaken
for foreign ways as seen in the opening lines of the poem:

Cast your net to the right side

Nothing?

Nothing.

Cast it to the left side

Nothing?

Nothing

(The Fisherman’s Invocation,
p.3)

From the above lines, the new fisherman does not know how to fish;
he is being taught by the skilled fisherman. This connotes that the new African
who emerged from colonial rule has lost his identity. He does not know the ways
of his people anymore. He has abandoned his ancient tradition and old beliefs
for foreign ways. The symptoms of this malady: severe emotional disturbance,
excitement alternating with tearfulness and depression, delusion which indeed
are symptoms of schizophrenia, are exhibited by the unskilled fisherman.

The argument in “The Fisherman’s Invocation” is whether the Back
(the traditional African culture) should be taken along with the front (the
imported Western ways) to form the child front which is the new projection for
our contemporary situation as in the lines below:

Then cast it to the back of the canoe

and draw gently and carefully

while I paddle the canoe forward

Nothing?

In the third movement of the poem, the unskilled fisherman suffers
from delusion which is concerned with his own impotence:

Where are your Gods now

Gods of the Back that have

brought forth this monster?

Throw it away, throw it into

The river and let the mermaids

Carry it on their songs.

Throw it away to the Back

and let the Back swallow it in its abyss

And let the Gods remember their lives are in my hands.

(Fisherman’s
Invocation, p.103)

Similarly, towards the end of J.P Clark’s “Ivbie,” there is also a
new African who has emerged from colonial rule. This new African is the
impetuous boy who has drunk the white man’s tea. In this case the tea of the
white man is education and it is evil as seen in the fourth movement of the
poem:

I cannot sleep I cannot sleep

Though not acting

Fierce floodlights flash focus me

Our fathers rightly or wrongly

Properly drugged slept at least

And you say I ought to on his

Cup of tea

But all night I walk to and

Fro dung-polished floors.

The above lines depict how evil the white man’s tea (i.e. the
white man’s way of life or education) is. The impetuous boy is telling us that
he cannot sleep as a result of the white man’s education or way of life he is
practicing. This shows that he is emotionally disturbed (which is one of the
symptoms of a person suffering from psychic trauma). The impetuous boy just
like the unskilled fisherman is exposed to the white man’s culture through
colonialism. He wants to be like the white man but at the end of the poem,
instead of being like the white man, the black boy suffers from what Clark
called “Magnificent Obsession.”

Both the unskilled fisherman and the black boy in Okara’s “The
Fisherman’s Invocation” and J.P Clark’s “Ivbie” respectively, suffer
psychological trauma because they forsake their African tradition for the
Western culture. They lost their identity and this makes them emotionally
disturbed.

However, J.P Clark’s “Ivbie” unlike Okara’s “The fisherman’s Invocation” also
deals with the theme of slavery and colonialism and its effects whereas Okara’s
poem is majorly concerned with the effect of colonialism(psychic truama) on the
African identity.

In sum, everybody is identified by his/her culture and every
culture has its uniqueness. Therefore, trading your culture for another culture
only makes you an orphan who is adopted by parents who are not his.Culture is us and we are culture.
Embrace your culture today!

Tammy Reuben Is A Graduate Of English And Literary Studies Whose Love For Teaching English As A Second Language And Providing Students With Useful Educational And Secular Information Resulted In The Creation Of This Blog.